SometimeAroundMidnight
By: Tropicwhale
Disclaimer: Drill. You knows it.
Author Talk: My dog died last weekend. I'm sort of... This story is for Pepper. Rest In Peace, puppy.
Chapter Four:
Being a Badass is a Way of Life
We were packed three to a row on the two hour flight and Spike was drinking more and more liquor the closer to Romania we got. He glared at the flight attendant when she mentioned that, maybe, he had had enough and she scurried to get him another mini-bottle of Jack Daniel's. When we got to Romania it was hell on Earth…mostly. I hate airports. As per Spike asking us nicely (read beg) we fan out into a mini-Delta with Calida and I flanking Spike and slightly behind him. I walking on his left so that my blindside was covered by Spike and Calida which made sure no one could sneak up on me or us from my left. I wore my best Nick Fury turtleneck and black jeans and Calida wore a black tank top with black jeans and a black leather collar Spike had dug up. She also had black leather wrist bands and an empty sheath strapped to her back. Spike wore his usual combat boots, trench, black tee shirt and jeans with a red button down and a smallish silver chain around his neck. His hair was slicked back and his swagger was turned up to the full notch. We make our way down to baggage claim and he grabs both mine and his duffles and pass them both to me and leaves Calida to grab her bag and a box which she immediately rips open and, to the apparent fear of the surrounding crowd, one of my broadswords. She grins in delight and slides the sword home into its sheath. Security is already converging on us at the same time I see Andrew. Spikes nods to me as I wave the young (and Annoying) Watcher over. "Xander! Spike! Girl I've never met before! Welcome to Bucharest!" Cal gives him the once over and looks back at the converging guards. Spike looks at me and I nod. Spike and I had a long involved talk with Calida about exactly what we should do in any give situation while in Romania. He drilled us. He was really quite nervous. He's tries to hide it but it's Spike...Mr. Spock he is not. Andrew opens his mouth again, the idiot. "So…you guys, like, match. Heh. What's that about? Spike! I thought you were in LA!"
"Let's go." Spike says and starts walking through the crowds.
"Tell you about it later, Andrew." I say and grab the younger man's arm to move him along. The security gaurds are starting to run after us. Spike leads our group outside and stops to stare at a series of posters on a wall. "What is it, Master?" I ask. Andrew goes to open his mouth and I cover his mouth with my hand. "Shut up. It could mean our tails if you don't play along." Andrew shifts and looks at me nervously.
"It reads 'SEE RURAL ROMANIA: HOMELAND OF THE VAMPIRES'." Spike scans the area. We're getting looks. Fucking Harmony and her reality show. Spike sees another poster and stalks over to it, pulling off the wall to read it properly. We jog to catch up to me. "ALL SLAYERS SHOULD BE SHOT AND KILLED ON SIGHT. STOP THE ENEMIES OF OUR COUNTRY's GREATEST ASSESTS'." I can hear sirens in the distance and security has caught up with us, pulling out guns. One shouts at us in Romanian.
"What did he say?" Calida asks.
"He says to drop our weapons and come quietly." Spike grins a horrible grin at the mockicer. "Vezi, asta va fi o problema. Nu ma pot scadea al meu." He says, his face going all ridgy and fangful. Some of the security guards falter but the one aiming a gun at Calida doesn't. Real cops show up and then there's a lot more guns pointing at us.
"Maybe, she should put down the sword?" Andrew asks hopefully. Spike sneers at him. I put my finger to my lip to get him to be quiet.
"Calida, don't you dare…pull it." The vampire orders and the slayer unsheathes sword and sneers at the guns. "Xander, my Claimed…do you think Dracula will be pissed off if his favorite human is detained by these…people?" He asks casually. More cops look hesitate at the name of...my Master? This is so going to get confusing fast. But I could see where he was going with this and played along
"If something were to happen to me, yeah. Dracula would be pissed…isn't that why you got me the bodyguard, Master?" He glances at me, shit-eating grin on his face and everything and shifts back to his human face. He loves me. I knows it. I love him too.
"Should I start defending him?" Calida asks.
"Hold that thought, dear. OI!" Spike says and then raises his voice. "Orice tine de ton vorbesc engleza?"
"I do." A police officer steps forward, slightly lowering the gun and eyeing the slayer with the sword.
"Don't look at her. Look at me. I'm the one in charge and if she attacks it will be on my orders and nothing else." The police officer focuses on Spike, his gun raising just slightly. The vampire smirks. I'm suddenly remembering my junior year of high school and-crap. This could get ugly fast. "Do you really think shooting a vampire will help? I guarantee you…it'll just piss me off." The policeman licks his dry lips.
"Blessed bullets." Spike raises his eyebrows and looks over at me. Blessed bullets. We never thought about that. I mean...we've used holy water filled supersoakers and then there are the crosses thing. Maybe it was a holy objects thing across the board? Cuz, that be cool. Spike sneers then and throw out his arms.
"Let's test it then…" That idiot! What if it works? Doesn't he realize they probably tested it before giving it to street police? Dumbass! And what about collataral damage? A blessed bullet is still a bullet! It'd still kill me! Or Calida!...or Andrew. "Take your best shot….create an international incident." The gun was shaking slightly. A few other officers shift. Obviously they understood English as well...or it could be the set of fangs. "I'm William the Bloody…Spike and I am the Master of Paris here visiting the seat of my clan, the Cult of Aurelius, on vacation and to look after some allies. Delaying my plans by any stretch of time will be a fast way to start a blood bath the likes of which haven't been seen since Count Vladimir Dracul was living." He's back in Game Face and growling. "Now. Lower your weapons or I will send the lot of you home to your families in small boxes." A ripple went through the crowd surrounding us. "NOW!" Half the security and police put up their guns and the other half retrain their weapons on us. He snarls. I can tell he's being impatient with not getting his way. I know that snarl. I hear that snarl all the time...in bed...with rope...it's fun to play 'Tease the Tied-up Vampire'.
Anyway. I should help my boyfriend...before he ends up feeling guilty for months on end. A bloodbath was sooo not what we need right now.
"Spike?" I ask. I approach my lover and lay my hand on his shoulder, stepping into him a little. "Master? It'll take me forever to get the blood out of our clothes…remember last time?" I can see him fighting a smile. He looks at me and smiles a smile full of fangs, obviously pleased with my make-believe. Of course, I've had to wash enough blood out of mine, his, Buffy's, Willow's, Calida's, Patricia's, Kenya's, Alex's, Mary's, Dawn's, Ren-you get my point.
"I can kill one without much bloodspray…what about the one that talks?" he asks. I pretend to thing about it.
"Yeah. Okay." The officer's eyes widen when Spike's suddenly pass the point of his gun and has him immobilized.
"Oh, pet." I don't need to see Spike's face to know that grin he's got on his face. The officer looks scared shitless. Spike's nothing he's ever dealt with. One of a kind. Of course, Spike wouldn't really hurt anybody. But, no one here needs to be aware of the whole soul thing. Right? "So afraid. But, let's not turn this into a Francis Ford Cupola film and you call off yours and I'll call off mine. I've places to be. Schedule and all that." The police shouts rapidly at the other officers and then a sergeant standing in the back of the crowd counters the order. The English-speaking guy whimpers. Spike's face probably isn't very pleasent to look at right now. My boyfriend grabs the gun from limp fingers and toss the guy aside. Spike then tosses the gun over his shoulder because, yeah, like he needs a gun. I have to dodge cuz it was coming my way...fucker needs to learn to look before he starts flinging loaded weapons over his shoulder. Spike then jumps clear over the heads of the crowd. It was pretty impressive. Unnecessary but impressive. I smile. It's not a good smile but it's a smile.
The crowd parts to look where the vampire has gone. I stare at the officers and they lower their guns more. Obviously, Spike's the real threat and not the chick with the broadsword. The sergeant is struggling but Spike's got him in a full nelson and then slams into a police car. The man pulls out and cross that I can tell is shaking from ten feet away. Spike squats down and he's in profile, all ridges and planes and black leather fanning out around him like some horrible winged creature from the Brothers Grimm. Spike wraps his right hand around the cross and it starts to smoke. It's obvious that the sergeant wets himself in fear. Spike pulls the man toward him by the cross and sneers down at him. The white hat in me rears its ugly head. Why isn't anyone trying to help the guy? Spike let's go of the cross and grabs the man by his throat, speaking softly to him in Romanian. I can't hear what he's saying and it occurs to me that maybe I don't want to know. The man is shaking so hard that I'm afraid he's having a seizure. The sergeant shouts out an order and the guns go down. Spike stands and says something to Calida in Spanish. She puts the sword back into the sheath. I start forward with the other two following me and the crowd parts to let us through to the vampire. I feel a swell of pity toward the man cowering next to the front wheel of the car. Spike turns toward Andrew and asks if he has a car. He nods and leads us to it. Spike and I sit in the back while Calida sits in the front with Andrew and our luggage goes into the trunk. When we're safely away from the airport I turn to my boyfriend.
"So, Spike. What did you say to the sergeant anyway?" He looks over at me and give me his innocent, 'I'm not up to anything' look. Yeah, that look. The pure bullshit one.
"Oh. Nothing really." I gives me a dissapproving look and shake my head. It's probably better I don't know
Author After Talk: :)
Romanian translation
Vezi, asta va fi o problema. Nu ma pot scadea al meu- See, that's going to be a problem. I can't drop mine.
Orice tine de ton vorbesc engleza? - Any of you prats speak English?
Tropic
